2-year-old traced to Varanasi, 1 held

A missing two–year-old boy from Vasai has been traced to Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and police officials have nabbed a person in connection with the kidnapping. The kidnappers wanted to demand a ransom from the toddler’s family but were caught before making any call, the police said.

The toddler’s father is an auto driver. Last Sunday, three children aged between seven and eight years were kidnapped from Nagpada area and two of them were found in Varanasi.

According to a police official from Waliv, the child is a resident of Pushpa Nagar area in Dhaniv Baug. The toddler was kidnapped when he was playing outside his house on the morning of April 25. After finding him missing, his parents searched all over the locality, but could not locate him. Later, a police complaint was lodged in the Waliv police station under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code.

During the investigation, officials realised that two neighbours of the complainants had been missing since the day of the incident. So, these persons’ call data records were requested and their cell phone location was tracked, which led the police to a village near Varanasi. Police teams were dispatched to Uttar Pradesh and the toddler was found late Thursday night with one of the neighbours, whom the police detained immediately. The police teams are to return on Sunday morning, said a police official. The officials have refused to mention the names of the accused, saying that investigation was on and they was trying to find out who were the aides of the accused.

Sources have said that the police’s preliminary investigation has revealed that the kidnappers were also planning to demand a ransom from the toddler’s family, but they were nabbed before making any call.